NEW MODE OF PROPAGATING HERBACEOUS PEONIES. 63 



mould ; the stems have then to make their way through this earth 

 before they can produce any flowers. If the height of the box or pot 

 is from thirteen to fifteen inches, it is of no consequence ; the stems 

 always rise through this thickness, and always attain the height fixed 

 for them, and then develop their flowers. The soil should be kept 

 damp all the summer, in order that roots may be formed in a proper 

 way. Towards November or December, the stems may be cut off 

 flush with the bottom of the box or pot, for they will be found fur- 

 nished with roots throughout their entire lengths. The same stems 

 may be cut into lengths, and each length, having a bud and some roots, 

 will, if placed in well-worked soil, produce a new plant. In planting 

 these lengths, each should be covered with earth about two inches deep, 

 so that the plant may draw nourishment from the soil, and not be killed 

 in frosty weather. In this way the stems of the double-flowered 

 Paeonia officinalis, which are commonly annuals, become perennials, by 

 the absence of light, and the obstruction artificially applied to their 

 growth. All my experiments have been made on this plant, but I am 

 convinced that similar results could be obtained from others of like 

 nature. Although the common Peony is exceedingly hardy and strong 

 in constitution, no mode of multiplying it has been hit upon, except by 

 dividing its roots, which greatly disorders the course of its vegetation. 

 By the new process, many plants can be obtained, and the large roots 

 of the original one remain undisturbed. Propagation by dividing the 

 great roots is exceedingly easy, for each piece carefully treated gives in 

 time a plant ; but the plant thus obtained does not bear any flowers for 

 the first three years, after which time development proceeds rapidly ; 

 the new process above described is much quicker. Chinese Peonies, 

 which have been hitherto universally propagated by the division of 

 their under-ground stems, may, I have every reason to believe, be mul- 

 tiplied in the new way. 



The common purple Peony and its varieties are often planted in the 

 most unsuitable situations ; they are put under trees in large parks, or 

 in clumps in pleasure-gardens; their stems are consequently poor, and 

 their flowers not half so large as they should be. Placed in proper 

 situations, the common height of the purple Peony and its varieties is 

 about three i'eet. In order that a tuft of Peony may grow well, it 

 should occupy a circumference of two yards, and be placed where the 

 gardener's spade can never wound its roots. The plant likes to be left 

 alone and undisturbed ; it does not like to be placed near other plants 

 with long roots which intermix with its own, and deprive them of the 

 moisture they require. It is only when these conditions are observed 

 that fine Peonies are produced ; if they are put under the shade of a 

 large tree, their stems are weak, and are beaten down by the first storm 

 of wind and rain. The space of two yards may seem unnecessary in 

 the eyes of many amateurs, but let them recollect that it will soon be 

 filled by stems themselves a yard long, and which spread out from a 

 common centre; besides the roots are longer than the stems, and ought 

 not to be interfered with. 



There used to be, many years ago, in M. Mole's park, at Meri-sur- 

 Oise, a horse-shoe plantation of clipped Yews. Between each Yew 



